


Sins of the Many

by HanaHimus



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: if...
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Novelization
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2019-11-15 06:26:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18068291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HanaHimus/pseuds/HanaHimus
Summary: Average students, living average lives...Karukozaka High School was full of such average students, living day to day as if nothing would change... But one student that was anything but average would change that, throwing the school into the Expanse and lording over them as the Demon Emperor. Their lives laying in his hands, students have to make a choice. Will they lay down and die or fight to make it back home?





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Titles and summaries are horrendous to come up with. ANYWAY. I'm gonna attempt to do uhhhh 2 multichapter fics at once. This one and one for Kikaider... Let's see how that goes lmao.
> 
> Friends enabled me when I mentioned this AU/Novelization idea so I ended up starting on it. Uhhhhh it's basically SMTif but 3 of the 4 routes happen, all the playable characters are involved, and I'm going to try and put in scenes that don't exist at all in if... Yee.

_Tamaki opened her eyes and all she could see was darkness. Darkness and her twin brother, Nobu, standing next to her, just as confused. Were they sharing a dream or something…? It was hard to tell and she didn’t have long to think on it before something came towards them._

_It looked like some sort of game cabinet, a virtual head appearing on screen as it came to a stop in front of them. It introduced itself as NOVA, a virtual fortune teller. Tamaki had never seen anything like this before, so why was it popping up in her dream…?_

_There wasn’t much time to think on it, however, so she ended up answering the questions as they came. Nobu did the same and, well, she hoped they weren’t sharing a dream. She was learning too much about her brother to say anything else._

_The game cabinet, upon telling them they were both very lucky individuals, left again. A warning to not rely on luck alone the last thing they heard from the strange machine. What kind of dream was this…?_

_She was about to turn to Nobu, to ask him if he had any idea what was going on, when a boy in a white uniform began to approach them. Oh great, who was it now…?_

_He stopped in front of them, hand outstretched and a grin on his face as a light began to shine over him. “...Welcome to my world.”_

_His world? So this dream wasn’t actually a dream? Tamaki furrowed her brow, opening her mouth to speak… But no words came out. The spotlight on the boy faded as he brought his hand to his chest with a great flourish._

_“Until yesterday, I was just a human. A shining example, an exceptional individual, yes, but just a human.” His movements continued to be marked with grandiose gestures as he moved his hands to his sides, as if welcoming Tamaki and Nobu to hell. “But I am now the omnipotent, omniscient, ruler of the Expanse. The residents of the Expanse call me… The Demon Emperor.”_

_The way the spotlight began to shine again as he shared what he was called and the grin on his face would have made Tamaki laugh under most circumstances, but this time it left a pit on the bottom of her stomach. She felt like things were about to go very wrong very quickly and she didn’t know how to stop it. A freight train was coming and she couldn’t move off the tracks._

_He closed his eyes for a moment, hand on his chest before he turned his gaze directly to Tamaki. “You have been unimaginably blessed by good fortune to have been witness to me, the ruler, with your own two eyes.”_

_Tamaki scoffed. What was with this luck and fortune bullshit in this weird dream-state? She was expecting to hear about it again and man, if she did, she would be pretty sure she had negative luck instead._

_“Your fates -- whether or not you live or die -- all lie in the palm of my hand.” He looked towards Nobu this time as he spoke. “Let’s keep this interesting, shall we?”_

_He began to laugh at that point, Tamaki moving to grab her brother by the shoulder. Whatever this was, she didn’t like it a bit. Nobu’s shoulder was tense as she gripped it, so she was sure he felt the same way._

_The boy continued to laugh, even as she faded out of this state…_

“...Hey, how long are you going to sleep?!” She groaned, burying her head in her arms. “Tamaki… Tamaki! ...School is already over!”

She let out a groan, finally looking up with groggy eyes. “What?”

“...Wow, you really slept well.” The girl in front of her earned a grimace from Tamaki for that. She hadn’t slept well at all. She didn’t seem to notice, however, continuing on speaking. “I dunno if it’s because of all the weird, scary dreams I’ve been having, but I haven’t been able to sleep at all lately.”

“I might be on my way to joining you there…” Tamaki rested her head on the desk again with a mumble. The girl wouldn’t listen anyway so no reason to be loud about it.

“I envy you!” Yep. “Anyway, I’m going home. Bye!”

With that, she turned on her heel, bag in her hands. Tamaki gave a little wave, which she returned before she was out the door. She turned away from her after a second, looking back to the classroom. Not many people were left, just a few still scattered around. Including Nobu, sleeping away at his desk.

Maybe that dream was just that, a bad dream. She stretched, pushing away from her desk to go wake up Nobu. If they had indeed shared a dream, they could share a laugh about it on the way home.

Then the floor began to shake, Tamaki bracing herself against the nearest desk as others stumbled about the room. The light that had been pouring into the room from the windows disappeared in seconds, replaced with an eerie purple glow that did nothing to light up the area.

Things settled down for a split second before the room erupted into a panicked chaos.

“Wh-what the hell?!”

Tamaki noticed Nobu stirring from his sleep, slowly. A girl’s shriek pulled him out of his sleepy stupor fully.

“Hurry, run!” A male classmate of her’s grabbed her by the arm, trying to pull her towards the door. He separated her from Nobu, but she was able to pull herself free before he got her out the door.

Another girl shrieked, grasping at Nobu’s jacket as she hid her face. “What?! What?! What happened?!”

“Something weird as hell is going on outside!” One boy looked out the window. “It’s not night but it’s pitch black!”

“Wh-wh-wh-what should we do?!”

Nobu looked at Tamaki, unable to claw the girl from his jacket. “Tamaki, did you have that dream too…?”

“I did…” Tamaki felt sick to her stomach as she spoke. “...I’m gonna go try and figure out what’s going on! Find me later!”

“Wait…!” Nobu called after her, but she was already out the door.

\--

When everyone panicked, Akira wasted no time leaving the classroom. There was no point in freaking out about it when they could be hunting for a way out of here. Was this school just full of idiots who didn’t even think for a second?

There was a lot of school to cover and he didn’t have time to waste. He was sure if he took too long, someone would stop and heckle him. Maybe that Janitor or (even worse) that Otsuki and his Disciplinary Committee. Just the thought made his skin crawl.

“Miyamoto…!” One of his classmates reached for his arm. “You can’t just run off…!”

He brushed them off (somewhat violently) and scoffed. “I don’t care what you think. There’s no point in freaking out when we could be trying to get out of here, idiot…”

With that, he stalked off, barely registering the fact his classmate was telling someone about his plans. If he found out the guy was snitching to anyone who'd cause him troubles, he’d make sure to put him in the hospital later, when this was all said and done.

He made his way up a flight of stairs, planning to try and get out through the fire escape… But the damn Disciplinary Committee had already moved in. The guy wouldn’t budge an inch, telling Akira he had to do what he said.

“How about I knock your teeth out instead…?” He stepped up to the guy, but he just smirked in reply.

“You do that and Otsuki will make sure you don’t go anywhere, Miyamoto. You should know that.”

He was right, Otsuki was enough of a pain that the only guys Akira didn’t even think about messing with were on his stupid fucking Committee. Starting shit now would just make his plan of a quick escape fall through, so…

He turned on his heel without saying another word and started off again. Maybe he could look around the rest of the floor and find a way out of here. He made his way towards the interior of the floor, only to see another asshole blocking his way.

With a grumble, he made his way for the stairs again, barely registering a girl passing him by. “...To hell with those disciplinary guys! What’s their problem anyway…?” Why did locking them all in like animals seem to be their idea?

He went back to the second floor, looking around. Maybe he’d beaten those guys to this floor, at least. He made his way for one of the doors, only for one of the guys to come sprinting up, stepping right in his way. Bastard looked smug about it, too.

“...No good here, either…”

“Too bad for you, Miyamoto.” The goon crowed, making Akira feel his face was more punchable than almost anyone else in the school. “You’re up to something and we’re not going to let you get away with it!”

“I’m not planning on staying stuck here while you play guard duty at some doors…” He would find a way out, even if they were trying to block all the damn exits.

There had to be another way, right? Most of the floors were blocked off, the fire escape was blocked off… Was there any other exit in the school? One that these idiots might not be able to get their grubby little paws on?

He paused for a moment, wracking his brain for even a hint at where to go next. This was hard and this Committee was only making it worse. He’d rather deal with the janitor than with these guys…

Wait. That was it. The janitor loved to talk his ear off about everything. From making Akira some sort of champion to how hard his job was sometimes… To what his little office was hiding.

_“You know, Akira, sometimes I’m tempted to just open up this manhole and sneak out to do a little gambling.” He’d pointed to an area of his office as Akira watched him, bored. “If the Principal wouldn’t find out and yell at me, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”_

_“You seem pretty sure he’d know, old man.”_

_“Well of course he would! He’s one of the only people to know that it’s even here and he’s always checking up on me because of it!” He was basically whining, trying to draw pity from Akira. “It’s hard, you know! It’s a little secret I wanna use but I have no one to cover for me.”_

_Akira tilted his head to the side. “What, do you want me to stir up shit so you can get away without being noticed or something?”_

_“Would you? I’d owe ya one!”_

He’d never said yes to the old man’s offer, but it was useful now. He could use the manhole to get out. The old fool always seemed to go along with anything Akira said, after all, it wouldn’t be hard to get him to open them up.

If they both got out of this alright, he might even cover for him once. He’d be the one owing the janitor if this worked out, after all.

\--

“Tamaki! There you are!” Yumi wasted no time approaching the other girl as soon as she saw her stepping out of class 2-D. “I’ve been looking for you! I need to talk to you, Tamaki.”

Tamaki blinked a few times, curiosity clear on her face. “What do you need, Yumi?”

“Listen… All of us are trapped here in the school.” She’d tested a few doors and even the top floors were cut off. Not to mention that Miyamoto character, stalking away from a door being kept closed by the Disciplinary Committee of all groups. “Something strange is going on outside, and it’s as if the entire school has warped into another dimension.”

That was the only way to explain what she’d seen when trying to head out for the day. Things had changed and she saw one person try running out into it… They hadn’t come back and she’d decided it meant it was time to scope out the school.

When she’d realized they were stuck, she wasted no time hunting down Tamaki. If anyone would help her out with what she had planned, it was her. She was just that friendly, help everyone out type.

“So that’s what’s going on?” Tamaki’s speaking pulled her out of her thoughts. “I wonder if…”

Yumi shook her head, not understanding Tamaki’s cryptic trail off. “Look, I have a bad feeling about this. I don’t think we’re going to get out of this okay...”

Tamaki placed a hand on her shoulder. “Yumi--”

“No, there’s no time for this.” She shook her head. She appreciated Tamaki’s want to comfort her, but she had to keep her head in the game. “If we don’t do something, we’re all going to die! At least, that’s the gut feeling I get.”

“I’m with you there…” Tamaki hugged herself with a frown. “I had some sort of dream or something right before this and a guy was talking about whether or not we live or die lies in his hands.”

A shiver ran down Yumi’s spine. “That’s… If that’s anymore than a dream, we’re all really in danger.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Tamaki closed her eyes. “This is bad, Yumi.”

Yumi knew this was her chance. Tamaki was seeing the issue and she needed help making sure this went well. She grabbed the other girl by the hands, looking Tamaki in the eyes when they shot open in surprise.

“Please! Give me a hand!” She swallowed hard, squaring her shoulders. “Let’s save the school… and everyone in it…”

“Yumi…”

“Tamaki, come with me!”

“Ah… I’m sorry.” She mumbled, looking away and pulling her hands free. “I don’t think I can just say yes right away.”

Yumi rubbed his arm, embarrassment about how forward she’d just been hitting her. “Yeah… I guess you can’t decide all of a sudden.”

“I’m sorry, Yumi!” Tamaki looked at her. “I just want to at least see how things are first.”

“I get it.” She nodded. “Go check out the school and see how things are. But we don’t have much time.” In fact, she felt there was little enough time that she might have to try and hunt down someone else after Tamaki ran off.

“Thanks, Yumi.” Tamaki gave her a small smile and like that, off she went, running down the hall.

Yumi sucked in a breath and turned on her heel. No sitting around, she had a school full of students to save! Be it with Tamaki or without.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's see how frequently I can update this lmao

Tamaki had done her best to arm herself to the teeth, well, about as well as someone could when the rooms had already been raided. She was at least able to get enough for herself and for Nobu, so long as he actually came out after her in time. Things were worrying, so she might just go with Yumi or someone else instead should he take too long.

She was also able to get some ointment from Doctor Kayama! She wasn’t sure it’d do much good in this situation, but she welcomed the kind woman’s offer for help. Even the small things went a long way right now.

She peeked into the music room at that point, wondering if she could find anything else, when she was met with a girl. One who seemed more calm than a lot of the others she’d run across so far.

“Uh, hello?”

She blinked a few times. “You’re Tamaki Uchida from 2-D, right? What are you doing here? You seem pretty calm compared to everyone else.”

“Just trying to figure out what’s going on…” Tamaki gave a laugh and rubbed the back of her head. “I could say the same to you, though! You seem calmer than I am. Why’s that?”

“Oh, well I’m just good at hiding when I’m scared…” She looked away, leaving Tamaki wondering if that was the truth or not. “But this isn’t the time to wait and see what happens. We’re in another world entirely now.”

“The Expanse…” Tamaki took a step towards the girl. “Do you know what’s going on? Could you tell me--”

“I don’t have time to explain. I’m in a hurry, sorry!” Before Tamaki could question her further, she ran out the door, leaving her high and dry.

She couldn’t help but be curious, though. she was so calm and seemed to speak with more certainty about what happened than, say, Yumi. She wanted to know more, even if it meant trying to hunt her down… Too bad the other girl had gotten a good head start at this point.

She left the room herself and started checking every floor she could, going through any door not blocked off. All she was able to really get from it was another person to turn down when he asked if she wanted to get out of there with him, the name Hazama, and the knowledge that Yahata had bought a laptop with his bonus (which was worrying him more than his student’s being in danger, for some reason)...

There hadn’t even been a sign of Yumi or Nobu when she checked in on 2-D, either. Maybe they’d run off together to deal with things and left her high and dry. Jerks.

“Maybe I should just go check the Music Room again…” She doubted the girl would go back there, but it might be worth a shot.

When Tamaki finally made it down to the first floor again, she was starting to feel a bit silly about even checking there again. Might as well finish what she was doing… If it was a lost cause, she’d just go find that Charlie guy and go with him.

She opened the door and… Her eyes lit up! She was actually here again! Maybe that NOVA thing was right and she was really lucky!

“I was looking for you! I really need some more information!” She stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.

“Good timing, actually. I need to talk to you about the anomalies that are going on here.” She gave a polite nod towards Tamaki. “I’m Reiko Akanezawa. Pleased to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too! I’m ready to listen to anything you have to tell me, Reiko.” She smiled brightly, trying to ignore how off-put Reiko looked by Tamaki’s use of her first name when they had barely met twice.

“Ah, well… I know who’s behind all this, and I have an idea of what we’re going to have to do.” Reiko seemed to recover fairly quickly, looking Tamaki in the eye. “All I need now if someone to help me. But everyone is in such a panic they won’t be much assistance.”

“I mean, there’s a few people not panicking, but… I see where you’re coming from.” She could also guess what was coming next.

“I suppose, but you’re the only one that I think will be able to help.” There it was. “So please, give me a hand!”

Tamaki thought about the fact Yumi and Nobu had been nowhere to be found, probably off together. If they weren’t waiting for her… She had no reason to wait for them, right? Reiko’s apparent knowledge when it came to all this would be helpful, anyway.

“Sure, as long as you keep telling me what’s going on, I’ll help you!”

Reiko gave her a small smile. “Thanks for hearing me out. The truth is… this anomaly was caused by Ideo Hazama.”

“I heard that name when looking around the school…” Tamaki crossed her arms and frowned. “How’d he do it?”

“He was trying to summon demons to the school.” What looked like sadness flashed across Reiko’s face for a moment. “But things escalated and the whole school got pulled into the Expanse.”

“So it was the Expanse you were talking about earlier!” Tamaki gasped. That dream was definitely more than a dream…!

“Yep, we’re in the middle of the Expanse right now!” She started for the door, gesturing for Tamaki to follow. “We’ve got to find him and stop him. Come on, let’s go!”

“Ah… Yeah…!” Tamaki stumbled a bit, but followed right after her. They were gonna stop this Hazama character!

\--

Akira had wasted no time making sure he was protected on the off chance he got into some trouble going out the manhole. Look at students around here just right and they’d practically be shoving things at you, after all.

He’d gotten some shit that’d keep him from taking too much damage (actually too much of that, all things considered) and a hockey stick. If he was facing off against more than a regular punk maybe he could make use of that. All that was left was waiting for the old man to get back to his office, then.

He made his way to a corner of a hall on the first floor, out of the sight of most people and a good position to see the janitor when he came back. He thought it’d work perfectly, up until a guy slammed right into him.

“Ah… Sorry!” The guy jumped back a step. “I was looking for my sister and I--”

An idea struck Akira as this guy started rambling out an apology and excuse to match. He’d gotten plenty of protective gear for more than just himself and someone else to keep an eye on his back might be useful with how things were right now…

He thought he sorta recognized this guy, too.

“... Hey…”

“Huh?” The guy blinked, pointing at himself. “M-me?”

“Yeah, you. ...Nobu Uchida, from 2-D, right?” He nodded. “What the hell happened to the school?”

“Uh… It got pulled somewhere or something I think? I just know there’s no way out…” Nobu scratched the back of his head. “Uh… You’re…”

“I’m Akira Miyamoto. From 2-C. You’ve heard of me, right?” Another nod told him he could move the conversation along. “... I see, we can’t go anywhere.” This was making his attempt with the manhole seem more viable.

“Yeah… I don’t know what to do. I kinda rely on Tamaki for this sort of thing.” Nobu looked tough, but he deflated as he spoke. He could hold his own in a fight, Akira was sure, but he’d be lost without direction… Worked for him.

“I got a lead on a way out. Want to come?” He tilted his head to the side, hand buried in his pocket.

Nobu’s eyes lit up. “Really? U-uh, yeah! A way out could be good, we could go get help and--”

Akira held a hand up, cutting him off. “... We’ll use the manhole in the janitor’s room to get out… Could be dangerous, so let’s make necessary preparations...”

“You look like you have most of that stuff covered, though.” Nobu looked him over and glanced at the stuff in his hands. “What’s there left to do?”

“Don’t you wanna tell your sister where you’re going, idiot?” Akira rolled his eyes. “Besides, the old man doesn’t seem to be in the janitor’s room, either… We have some time to kill until he’s back.”

“Oh, uh… Makes sense, yeah! Let’s go find Tamaki then. Maybe she can come with us, even.”

Akira shook his head. “It’ll be just me and you. Too many people and there’s no way this’d work out.” Plus he knew about Tamaki, too. She was bright, chipper, bold. The type who’d probably argue with Akira about all of this.

Argument was the last thing they needed when trying to get the hell out of here, too.

“Ah…” Nobu deflated a bit. “I guess that makes sense.”

Good, he didn’t try and start shit because Akira said no-sisters. “... Let’s go then, lead the way. Make sure we don’t take forever to find her, alright?’

“Alright.” He nodded and turned around, letting out a gasp at the sight of two girls leaving the music room. “Oh! Tamaki’s right there!”

He was pretty sure the other girl was Reiko Akanezawa… Someone he didn’t like and didn’t like him. She was too attached to that damn brother of hers for his taste and he was too nasty to said brother for her’s… Great.

“... Keep it short, Uchida.”

Nobu, looking quite confused, nodded. “Got it.”

\--

Yumi was rushing down the third floor hall, trying to find anyone who could help her when she nearly ran into some blond kid. Definitely not natural, so… Did he dye it for the same reason she did? Fashion? Or was he trying to look as delinquent as possible to match the scary aura some others in the school had?

He reached out a hand, grabbing her by the wrist when she started to stumble. “You’re Yumi Shirakawa, from 2-D like that Tamaki Uchida girl, right? You’re just as calm as she was.”

“Yeah, I am…” She pulled her hand away when she was steadied, smoothing out her skirt. “Did you see her earlier?”

“I did… By the way, I’m Shinji Kuroi, but everyone calls me Charlie. Nice to meet you.”

She gave a polite nod. “Nice to meet you too.”

“So, are you trying to escape the school somehow too?” He tilted his head to the side. “I’m getting the hell out of here on my own.”

“What about the others?” Yumi frowned at him, eyes narrowing. “You’re just going to leave them to the wolves?”

Charlie scoffed. “Everyone here is just running around in a goddamn panic. Either that, or they’re sitting still, thinking someone will come and help them -- like that’ll happen!”

Yumi frowned at him. “How selfish do you have to be? They need help! If you’re calm enough to not be freaking out, you should be trying to help them! If we don’t help them, we’ll probably all die--”

“Not if we get out of here!” Charlie crossed his arms. “Are you going to come with me or are you gonna run around here until you die?”

Yumi frowned at him. “I’ll go with you… But we’re not just going to run away! We  _ will  _ help everyone.”

Charlie snorted and headed for the stairs. “Sure. I got us some stuff that’ll work as makeshift armor and weapons, since there’s been some weird-ass monsters seen around. Here.” He tossed a baseball bat and helmet Yumi’s way. “Let’s go see if we can find more.”

Yumi wanted to argue more, but for now she could hold off. She was sure she could break him down eventually, get him to agree that saving everyone would be the biggest net gain for anyone involved.

Watching him talk to Ryuichi Sakamoto and his girlfriend Akiko just made her more sure. He seemed to get along with the guy, so maybe she could use him to appeal to his selflessness. They stepped out of the room after a moment and Yumi looked at him.

“You still wanna ditch everyone? Even Sakamoto and Yano, Kuroi?” She tilted her head to the side, trying to keep a smile screaming  _ gotcha _ from coming to her face.

“...Well, it’s not like they’re doing much to try and get out!” Charlie made a face. “If they wanna get out of here, they can come find us and follow us or something.”

Yumi frowned, apparently she was wrong then. “...That so? Guess we should start looking for a way out, then.”

Charlie seemed smug. “Seems you’re finally getting it!”

She wasn’t so much getting as she was choosing her battles right now, but she wouldn’t tell him that. “Come on, let’s just go.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to upload of a schedule, so this was drafted ahead of time. Hope the fic's been enjoyable so far!

Tamaki was so happy to see Nobu, until she realized he was with some guy. Sure, she had made a move to go with Reiko, but that was because she thought Nobu and Yumi had already ditched her! Nobu had no reason to think she’d ditched him yet.

“Who’s that with you, Nobu?” She tried to not sound too hurt over his betrayal as she looked at him.

“I was about to ask you the same thing…” He rubbed the back of his head. “But uh, this is Akira Miyamoto, from 2-C. He has an idea of how to get out of here so we’re gonna do that, try and get some help!”

Tamaki frowned. Based off what Reiko told her, that wasn’t going to work in the slightest. “Nobu--”

Reiko held up a hand, shaking her head. “Let him try, there might still be a way out of here.”

That was a good point. They might not be able to get the rest of them help, but if they got out she would at least be able to know her brother was okay. One less thing to worry about while trying to stop Hazama with Reiko...

“...There something you’re not telling us?” The boy with Nobu, Akira, stepped forward, eyes narrowed. “Maybe if a certain someone is involved?”

His words made Tamaki move in front of Reiko defensively. “If you guys plan on getting out and getting help, that doesn’t matter much, does it?”

Akira seemed tense as he stared the two of them down, but eventually he backed off, just a bit. “...Fair enough. But a word of advice? Don’t trust Akanezawa too much...”

Tamaki blinked a few times, a frown on her face. “Excuse me? What makes you say that?”

“...You’ll see.” Was all he said in response.

Now… This was starting to tick Tamaki off. What made Akira think he could be so vague about all of this, huh?! If he was going to tell her to not trust someone, well, he better have a good, trustworthy reason himself or she’d have no reason to listen to him!

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Her voice was icier than usual and she could tell Nobu knew it by how he jumped.

“Come on, Reiko. We should get moving.”

Down the hall they started when another student came running at them, gripping his side. “H-help…!”

Nobu and Akira approached at the sound of his voice, just as confused as the girls were. “What’s going on?”

“Help! M-monsters! Monsters in the school!! Oh god, they’re going to kill us all!” He stumbled behind them, whimpering and covering his head. Tamaki wanted to press him more, ask him  _ what  _ monsters when the answer became clear.

Some purple creatures approached and wasted no time attacking them. Tamaki was quick to take the ice pick she’d found and drive it into the side of its head… It didn’t go down. It jumped at her and she nearly got bitten right on the face when Akira smacked a hockey stick into it’s gut, sending it stumbling back.

The other one ran at Reiko and she brought the baseball bat she had down twice into its head, making it stumble. Nobu gave it a kick while off balance, pulling it back right before it dug its teeth into him.

The first one came back around for another attack on Tamaki and this time she shoved the ice pick right in its mouth, watching as it finally died, fading away into nothing. Tamaki, Reiko, and Nobu all shared a look. What in the…?

While they stared at each other, Akira drove the hockey stick into the remaining creature again and it also vanished. Tamaki realized in that moment that it had been pretty damn close to her head when smashed into oblivion.

“Uh…” She looked over at Akira. “Thanks…”

“...Let’s go see what that guy was up to, anyway.”

\--

Akira felt uncomfortable walking next to Reiko, but he didn’t have much of a choice. Those twins had gone ahead, making it impossible to get in front of them as they squeezed into the computer room. He didn’t like that.

Reiko clearly didn’t either. Her shoulders were tense and she looked like a trapped animal, ready to strike out at any moment. Akira didn’t have time for any of that, so when they were inside the room, he moved towards Nobu. The further from Reiko, the better.

“Thanks, you really pulled my butt out of the fire!” The student spoke, finally, pulling Akira out of this thoughts. “You’re… The Uchida twins, Miyamoto, and Akanezawa, right?”

“That’s us!” Tamaki nodded, a smile on her face. How she remained so chipper and friendly when she nearly got her face bitten off, Akira didn’t know. “And you are?”

“I’m Sato Katsuhiko, head of the computer club.” So a total nerd.

“Nice to meet you, Sato.” She smiled and Akira could feel her about to go into niceties. “I--”

“Hey, Katsuhiko.” He spoke up, ignoring the huff and glare Tamaki sent his way. “How’d those things get in the school? Tell us what happened.”

“...Since we can’t get out of the school, I’ve been trying to connect to the net to gather whatever information I can.” He cringed away from Akira as he began explaining. “I managed to connect to some weird network and downloaded a really strange application.”

“Weird Network? Strange application…?” Reiko tilted her head to the side with a frown. “I’m shocked you could connect to anything here…”

“Yeah… when I tried to run the program, those monsters… demons came out.” Sato shivered. “Some guy named STEVEN uploaded that particular program. It’s just a handle though so I doubt that’s his real name.”

“That’s really creepy.” Nobu shivered a bit himself. “Why would someone make a program that has demons in it?”

“I wish I knew.” Sato shook his head, holding out a floppy disk. “Anyway, I’ve got the program on a disk, but it creeps me out so you can have it.”

Tamaki and Nobu both grabbed for it, staring at each other for a moment before Nobu slowly pulled his hand back to allow Tamaki to take it. For now, at least. Akira might try and get his hands on it later if it seemed useful. He was just utterly useless with computers, so he wasn’t sure that’s happen…

“Is it alright to give it to us?” Tamaki scratched her cheek. “You’re the computer guy…”

“I’m sure!” Sato refused to even look at it anymore. “It’s probably safe with you -- after all, you can actually kill those things!”

Akira frowned. “... Fair point.”

“I know it’s a fair point.” Sato fixed his glasses with a ‘hmph’. “Of course, it’s not going to do you much good without a computer. There are quite a few here but they’re not exactly portable…”

“That’s true…” Tamaki hummed for a moment before her eyes lit up. Akira’s narrowed as she stared at her. Did she have some sort of idea. “I don’t think that’ll be an issue, though! Thanks, Sato!”

With that, she turned on her heel and Reiko followed after her. They were out the door before Akira could say anything.

“Well, guess we can go see if the janitor is back now, eh, Akira?” Nobu smiled at him, rubbing the back of his head.

Akira frowned. “Idiot, that could be useful... We’re following them.”

Nobu frowned, but didn’t seem ready to argue. “I… should have seen that coming. Alright, let’s go. Try not to get in a fight with my sister though, alright?”

“No promises.”

“I should have seen that coming too…”

\--

Yumi was super sure they’d hit a dead end hard now. No matter where they went, there was no lead on a way out… And Charlie, in his neverending wisdom, had tried to pick a fight with a disciplinary committee member.

How did he think that was a good idea? Even Akira Miyamoto, one of the scariest delinquents by most in the school’s standards, knew not to do that. Why had she picked herself an idiot as a partner?

Now here she was, pulling him into Doctor Kayama’s office. How was she going to explain this one…?

“Oh my.” Kayama gasped when she saw them, wasting no time movie to Charlie to treat his wounds. “What happened to you? Did those monsters get to you?”

“Well--”

“He picked a fight with another student.” Yumi spoke up before Charlie had much of a chance to say anything. “The idiot wants to get out of here, but doesn’t know where to begin.”

“Now, no need for harsh words…” Kayama shook her head. “And there’s no need for you to be fighting with other, mister. I don’t want anyone getting hurt while this is happening.”

Yumi could admire Doctor Kayama for that. Too bad she wouldn’t be able to convince her to come along instead of Charlie… She might actually listen to her pleas to save everyone. But she couldn’t take someone like her from other students when they could get hurt too. This sucked.

“Yeah, yeah… I just don’t wanna be stuck here when no one else’ll even try and do anything!” He let out a hiss of pain as Kayama dabbed alcohol onto a wound on his cheek.

“Tamaki and Nobu are probably doing something…” Yumi sighed, looking to the side. Too bad she hadn’t found one of them instead. She thought she caught sight of one of them dashing up the stairs, but they clearly had a crowd and she already had Charlie.

Life was not being fair to Yumi right now.

She continued to stare off, ignoring the clear glare Charlie was giving her after what she said until Kayama let out a tired sigh. “There you are, you should be feeling as good as new now.”

“Thanks.” Charlie rubbed his cheek as he stood up. “Come on, Shirakawa, let’s get a move on.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth.” She turned back to Kayama, giving a polite nod. “Thanks ma’am. I’m sure we’ll be seeing you again soon enough.”

She smiled a sweet smile. “Feel free to come to me any time, I’ll do what I can to help hurting students.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something of note: Some things here will follow the wiki spelling instead of the fan translation spelling. It'll depend on what I think fits better....
> 
> First case of this: Melusine instead of Mary Jane

Tamaki was the first into the classroom, but Nobu was close after. Looked like he wasn’t about to let her get away with getting the program and the laptop, huh? Of all the times he decided to put up a fight…!

“Oh, Tamaki! Nobu’s with you too!” Yahata looked towards her, an embarrassed smile on his face. “Sorry about before, I just panicked. Do you need something?”

Reiko and Akira were through the door shortly after he spoke. If Reiko was there to back her up, she was sure she could do this. 

She gave her nicest, most ‘model student’ smile as she put her hands behind her back, tilting her head to the side. “Professor, is there any way I could borrow that laptop you said you bought?”

“O-or to me?” Nobu’s smile was good, but not as good as her’s.

“... Eh? You want to borrow my laptop?” His embarrassed smile fell into a frown. “... Uh… well… come on, give me a break.”

“Please, Professor Yahata, lend it to us!” Reiko spoke up and wow. Tamaki didn’t know Reiko was hiding such puppy dog eyes the entire time! That might just get him to hand it over.

“I’m not sure…” Dammit, maybe not. But at least Nobu wouldn’t get it either--”

“... Professor…” Akira spoke up, moving towards the man. Their teacher looked like a little bug next to Akira when he started glowering like that. “Lend it to us…”

“All right, all right.” Of course that was what broke him. The man started to sweat, clearly pretty terrified by the rumors surrounding Akira. “I can’t lend you my laptop, but I’ve got something even better.”

“Oh yeah?” Nobu rose an eyebrow.

He nodded, pulling something out. It looked… Odd to Tamaki, but did sort of remind her of the computers in the computer room. “This is a special arm terminal-type PC that I built myself.”

Tamaki furrowed her brow. “Why would you make this, sir?”

That embarrassed smile from before was back. “I saw some kid with a husky dog that had one and thought it was cool, so I made one.” 

“Oh, a guy in a green jacket?” Tamaki’s eyes lit up. “I’ve seen him a few times too! That did seem pretty cool! And his puppy was so cute!”

“I’m glad you can understand!” He smiled at her before looking back to Nobu and Akira. “Embarrassingly enough though, even though I built it I can’t figure out how to use it…”

Akira gave him a look. “Professor--”

“At my age I should be mortified. But I’m sure you’ll be fine.” He was quick to add that on. “In terms of quality it should have no problems. I’ll lend it to you, Uchida. I added a bunch of functions so it should come in handy.”

Nobu grinned from ear to ear when he got it. “Thanks!”

With that, they were out the door. Tamaki took no time following, slamming her brother into the wall. “Give it to me Nobu!”

“What?! No way! I got it fair and square!”

“You don’t have the stupid program, so it’s useless to you!”

“There’s plenty of other cool things on here… You should give me that program anyway!”

“No way,  _ I’m _ the older sibling, remember? If I get something first I don’t give it up!”

“That’s so unfair!”

“Take that up with our mother for having me first. Now give me the PC!”

“Ouch, ouch! Stop twisting my arm! Fine! I’ll give you the stupid thing!”

She let him go, taking the PC with a smile. She put it on and soon enough, she had the program installed. “Thank you~”

Akira clearly looked pissed, grabbing Nobu by the collar. “Guess we’re searching for anything else useful, then. Before you cry and hand it over to your sister too.”

“Sorry, sorry!” Akira dragged him off and Tamaki wanted to rush after him when they entered a storage room, but as she got close… That guy from her dream appeared, covered in a rainbow of lights.

It didn’t seem to really be him, but it began to speak all the same. “I am the one who was once Ideo Hazama. But I am no longer an ordinary high school student like you! Now, I am the great ruler of the Expanse, the Demon Emperor!”

“What--”

“The weak student Ideo Hazama is no more! Now, there is only the supremely powerful Demon Emperor! It was through the use of but a mere fraction of my great power that the school was pulled into the Expanse.” 

If Tamaki wasn’t living this right now, she’d have laughed in his face. This all sounded so ridiculous, and yet…

“Resistance is futile. I can see that you’re trying to escape the school… what a waste of effort!” His tone was cruel, mocking as he looked down at them. “But why not -- I’ll give you a hint. Head to the gym. There is something there that will let you into the Expanse… if you can manage to get it.”

Tamaki thought he was just about done and was ready to rush when he let out a chuckle, making her freeze.

“Not that I think you’ll be able to survive in the Expanse, that is. Well, do your best, I wish you luck…”

With those words, he was finally gone, leaving Tamaki and Reiko standing there. Before Tamaki could say anything, Reiko was in front of her, ready to run for the stairs.

“You see, just like I said!” She grabbed Tamaki by the hand. “Still, I can’t believe that Hazama… is the Demon Emperor…”

“It’s fine, Reiko.” Tamaki gave her a smile. “We’ll handle this easily!”

“Yeah… You’re right. Let’s go.” They started for the stairs again and Tamaki swore she saw Akira and Nobu exist the room out of the corner of her eye. What was that thing holding Akira’s hand, though…?

She didn’t have time to think about that. Whatever it was, it seemed friendly enough! She and Reiko made their way towards the gym, and soon enough they were being attacked by more demons. The COMP was telling her what each of them were, at the very least.

She was even able to talk a Pixie and a Willy to come along with them. She didn’t know why, but she had a gut feeling that some help against what was to come next would be a good idea.

Soon enough, they were there, Pixie and Willy summoned from her COMP. Reiko looked back at her. “Let’s have a look around.”

As Tamaki searched around what seemed to be the remnants of some Demonic ceremony, a ring stood out to her. It seemed to float in the air, it’s name the  _ Ring of Humility  _ according to what seemed to be a voice ringing in her head.

She took it in her hands and turned to Reiko. “I got it!”

Reiko ran over to her side. “That’s great, let’s--”

Before she could finish, Hazama’s voice began ringing out through the room. “... I see you’ve found it. You can keep it.”

Tamaki looked up towards where the voice seemed to be filtering from, puffing out her chest in an attempt to look tough. “Oh yeah?”

“Once you leave the school into the Expanse, you will enter the “Chamber of Seals.” Use the Ring of Humility there and you can break one of them.” As he spoke, Tamaki furrowed her brow, trying to remember it all. “In order to return your school to the human world, you will have to break everyone one of these seals, of course. Even your primitive minds should be able to grasp that fact.”

Tamaki stuck out her tongue. “We’re not stupid, of course we could figure that out!”

“However… first you’ll need to beat Faun. Otherwise you’re just wasting my time. Fight bravely, friends!”

He said that and his voice faded away in a fit of laughter and, from the summoning circle in the middle of the room, a green and blue demon appeared. Larger than the ones Tamaki had run into in the hallway, he looked ready for a fight.

She braced herself, slamming the ice pick into the side of the demon. He let out a roar and punched her, sending her stumbling back. Pixie healed her up quickly enough as Reiko smacked the demon twice with the bat.

Willy sent off a fire spell and Tamaki could smell singed fur as she dug the ice pick into his leg. He kicked out with his other leg, towards Reiko, but the girl thankfully dodged it easily enough.

They continued like this for a while, Pixie using an electric spell when no one was in need of healing. It didn’t take too long, thankfully, and the demon fell. He might have been bigger than the others, but he disappeared into nothing like all the rest.

“Let’s go, Reiko.”

 

\--

 

Akira blinked once, twice, three times when he and Nobu walked into a storage closet to look for anything that could be useful, only to see a demon. This one wasn’t attacking them like those little purple bastards had and was wearing… A school uniform? Did demons have schools?

The thing began to speak at them, its words a garbled mess to Akira’s ears. The most he could make out was maybe some sounds? Something like hee ho? Well, this little heeho thing didn’t seem to realize he couldn’t understand a word it said because it kept going.

It tilted its head to the side after a moment, looking up at Akira as if waiting for a reply. He didn’t want to start a fight, so he slowly nodded a yes, ready to book it if that was a mistake.

The demon seemed to get excited, reaching out its hand to hold Akira’s. This thing looked like it could crush him, so he decided against ripping it away from him as it garbled more words towards him.

“Miyamoto… What did it just say to you?” Nobu’s voice wasn’t above a whisper as he looked at the demon, fear clear on his face.

“No clue…” His own voice was a mumble. “But it’s not trying to kill us, so let’s just go with it. Come on, the old man is probably back by now.”

He started for the door and the demon followed by his side happily. It seemed to be rambling at him about this and that… To make sure it didn’t get pissed, Akira hummed and mumbled ‘I see’s every once and a while. That seemed to keep it happy enough.

Nobu followed after them, a death grip on Akira’s shoulders as they walked down the stairs. “Miyamoto taking this with us seems like a bad idea…!”

“We’d know if it was a bad idea or not if someone hadn’t chickened out and given his sister the PC.”

“That’s so unfair…!”

\--

 

Yumi and Charlie made a rush for the gym as soon as they heard Hazama’s words in the hallway. Yumi had had a feeling he was behind all of this… She’d heard plenty of creep rumors about him to make it easy to believe, at least.

“So is this really the only way we can get out?” Charlie didn’t seem that excited about this. “What if there’s another way out of here and he’s lying to keep us from it?”

“We don’t have time to think about that, Kuroi.” She shook her head, quite happy that this wasn’t just a quick way out. “Besides, if the only way out is helping the school out, I don’t see an issue.”

“You might not, but I do…” Charlie mumbled, shaking his head. “Whatever, let’s just hurry to the gym and get this damn ring!”

They stepped into the hallway leading there, only to be met by those monsters Charlie mentioned. They seemed angry, too, ready to fight. Yumi swung her baseball bat at a little lady with wings when she came flying at her. She didn’t like the crunch that followed when she hit her into the wall.

Charlie, hockey stick in hand, was able to keep a zombie dog further than arm’s length. It took a lot of hits, but it eventually went down too. As the monsters kept coming, Yumi decided to try and talk to one. Maybe they could talk this out instead of fighting.

“Hey, excuse me!” She held her hand up at one of the little pixie looking ladies. “Can we just talk about this?”

The monster replied, but nothing she said connected for Yumi. It sounded like total gibberish, a gargled attempt at Japanese at best. Based off how she stomped her feet in the air, the monster didn’t get what she was saying either.

Great, did that mean there was a language barrier? If there was, there wasn’t exactly a way to overcome it, besides maybe using charades. Yumi doubted she or Charlie could learn monster language, after all.

The monster girl attacked Yumi again and nearly poked one of her eyes out. She swatted her to the side, slamming the bat into her and watching her vanish like all the rest. It seemed like the monsters weren’t ever going to stop coming…

But eventually they did. Yumi felt achey, but stronger than she’d been when they first walked in here and finally they could get the to gym. “Let’s go get that ring before more come.”

As soon as they walked in, a voice began ringing through the room. Hazama’s voice. “It’s too bad, you got here too late… Someone else already has the ring!”

“Are you kidding me?!” Charlie groaned. “Come on, let’s go find who has it!”

“Now, now, not so fast! If you’re going to follow them into the Expanse, we should see if you can handle yourself. Of course, they took care of Faun, but Melusine is still here to fight you.”

Before they could ask questions, the voice faded and a woman rose from the summoning circle in the room. Of course, she didn’t look at human as those little fairy ladies, with grey skin and a tail instead of legs. Her wings flapped and she shrieked upon seeing them.

Yumi dodge as she striked out, trying to dig claws into her chest. She slammed the baseball bat down across her hand as she moved. Charlie brought his hockey stick into her side, gaining her attention.

Instead of trying to strike out at him, she seemed to cast some sort of magic. The air seemed pink for a moment and Charlie barely stumbled away, his weapon smacking him in the side.

“Be careful you idiot!” Yumi slammed her bat back into the monster to gain her attention again. “If you hurt yourself there’s no way we’ll win!”

“Oh come on!” Charlie frowned at her before returning to attacking himself. “I didn’t really hurt myself, it’s fine!”

They continued to bicker as they fought the monster, which only got worse when she healed herself. Thankfully, though, she did go down eventually. Yumi felt like her arms were going to fall off as she disintegrated like any other monster.

“...Let’s go find whoever has the ring, now.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been... A long while. A lot of this was written before, but the third section was written today. Sorry for being gone from this for so long

Tamaki and Reiko left the gym not sure of where to go to get out into the Expanse. They planned to just try and wander the halls until something stood out to them when a member of the Disciplinary Committee came running up to them.

 “Hey, you! What were you doing in the gym?!” He seemed frazzled at the thought they’d gotten in there. “I’m gonna tell Otsuki!”

Without another word, he ran off down the hall, likely towards the lab where Otsuki locked himself up all the time. Tamaki and Reiko shared a look at that point, Tamaki biting her lip. This could be really bad.

“Is Professor Otsuki gets mad at us, I’m not sure we’ll be able to go anywhere.” Reiko spoke up first. “That could be bad.”

“Maybe we should go try and explain it to him?” Tamaki scratched her cheek. “I know he’s not exactly the easiest guy to reason with, but it couldn’t hurt, right?”

“You think we’ll get him to understand?” Reiko frowned, clearly not buying it. “...I guess we can try, but I don’t think much good will come of it.”

“Well, there’s not much else we can do when we don’t know how to get out, right? Only exit other than the front door is the fire escape and that’s blocked off, so...” She shrugged, fiddling with the ring. “Might as well try something while we figure out where to go next.”

“Alright…”

Reiko clearly wasn’t totally on board, but Tamaki led the way to the lab anyway. Otsuki was a bit odd, but he  _ had  _ to listen to her, right? With the situation they were in, they all had to work together!

There he was, looking upset as soon as Tamaki walked in, ring in hand. “Professor… I know it probably looks bad, but--”

“You took the Demon Emperor’s joke seriously and got the Ring of Humility!” Otsuki cut her off, clearly angry.

“J-joke…? But he said it’d let us leave the school when--”

“There’s no scientific basis to say that it’s okay for you to leave the school!” He wasn’t giving Tamaki much of a chance to get her own words in. Before she could even try again, he opened his jacket and revealed he was basically armed to the teeth….!

Was he planning on attacking them for trying to get out? She didn’t have time to think about it, seeing as he came barreling at her.

She moved out of the way, slamming the ice pick into his back. He let out a yelp, but it didn’t seem to draw blood or anything… He really had covered himself well.

He kicked out and she jumped back as Reiko brought the bat down on his knee twice. He shot something out at Reiko in response, and she let out a yelp, backing up in pain. Pixie healed Reiko with a wink as Willy shot out another fire spell, singing the bottom of Otsuki’s jacket.

They continued like this, bashing their weapons into them and slamming into him. It took a while, but finally the man went down. He stared up at them, glasses askew.

“D-Damn you! Little brats, you’ll pay for this!” He started towards the door, Tamaki and Reiko watching him drag himself. “There’s no scientific basis that you’ll be able to make it back to the human world alive…”

With that, he was out the door. Tamaki followed after, but he was gone by the time she stuck her head outside the door. How did he move so quickly…?

 

\--

 

“Alright, keep this thing behind you while we talk to the old man.” Akira pushed the little heeho thing behind Nobu. “I don’t want him freaking out and ignoring what I’m trying to get done.”

“Got it…” Nobu nodded and, with that, Akira pushed into the Janitor’s office.

“Oh, it’s you, Akira!” The janitor’s uncovered eye lit up as soon as he saw him. “Looks like shit’s really hit the fan.”

“That’s sure one way to put it…” Akira sent Nobu a glare when he mumbled that out. If that little heeho thing popped out because he had to comment, Akira would punch him.

The janitor shrugged. “Ain’t no use in resisting. Come in, have a cup of tea and relax a bit.”

Akira shrugged off his arm when he tried to put it around his shoulders. He seemed to get the hint, backing off a few steps, though his smile remained.

“... By the way, Akira, have you thought about our little talk? About taking up boxing?” Of course he’d bring that up now. Akira usually liked to forget how hard he pushed for that… “You’re totally champion material! Let’s shoot for the top!”

“... Idiot, no way…” He shook his head, refusing to make eye contact with the man or with Nobu, who was now staring at him curiously.

“... Oh…” The janitor deflated for all of a moment before being right back to his normal annoying smile. “By the way, what do you need?”

“... I want to leave the school. Open the manhole, old man…” Akira shifted, getting impatient and worried about the little monster guy.

“You want to leave the school? Sure thing, I can’t say no to you…” He began moving the cover off the manhole before looking back at Akira with a frown. “But will you be okay?”

Akira gave a nod and soon enough the cover was removed. The janitor stepped to the side and gave Akira another worried look. “It’ll be fine, old man.”

“Normally this would lead outside but… Be careful, now!”

Akira turned back to Nobu. “... Let’s go. If we stick around here things will get ugly.” With those words, the little heeho decided to not stick around behind Nobu as before, letting out another gargled sound before jumping right at Akira.

He heard the janitor let out a confused yell, but rather than dealing with it, he rushed into the manhole, followed by the other two. It was dark as hell, but the janitor always described it as a straight shot, so that was alright.

“... We just go through here… and it leads outside…” He took another step forward, only for there to be nothing under his foot.

Nobu let out a yell too and a little shriek escaped their monster thing, too. Things went by too quickly for anything to register, besides the fact they were falling through floors and it quite honestly hurt when they finally made impact with a ground that didn’t break.

He stood up, turning back to Nobu with a frown, rubbing his back. “... What the heck is this? This is a weird place…”

“I dunno… Let’s look around, I guess?” Nobu scratched his cheek.

Sadly, Akira didn’t have a better idea. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

They began looking around. There was a gate, but there wasn’t a way to get it to budge. They both tried to pull and push on it, but nothing. Apparently all they could do was try and look around this floor, then. Maybe see if there was a key to this weird gate.

They began scouring the area and, soon enough, Hazama (or at least a vision of him) appeared.

“...I can’t believe that someone actually made it this far. I’m quite shocked!” He began speaking, way too snooty for someone like him. He looked them over with a chuckle. “So,  _ you _ are Akira. And you must be Nobu. Not that it makes any difference who you are, of course.”

Akira furrowed his brow. What the hell made him think he could talk like that? As if this loser had any right to talk about them like he didn’t know who they were.

“I’m sure you thought you could escape this way, but I’m afraid that’s impossible.” Hazama chuckled, shaking his head. “Not a single soul will be allowed to escape.”

“W-what?!” Nobu took a step back. “Why?”

“Why? Because I said so.”

Akira took a step forward, sneering. “... Get your head out of your ass, Hazama. Since when have I ever let you boss me around?”

The answer was never. It was pretty clear, as far as he was concerned, too. Not a soul in the school would say otherwise.

“Since now, if you know what’s good for you.” Looked like Hazama didn’t agree, stupid bastard… “The rules of the old world don’t apply here. This is the Expanse! Here I am the Demon Emperor, and what I say goes.”

Akira let out an unimpressed laugh. “You’ve gotta be kidding me! I’m not wasting my time listening to this kind of bullshit any more!”

Hazama frowned at him. “You just don’t get it, do you? Then I suppose I have no choice but to make you see things my way!”

Before Akira or Nobu could say anything or move, Akira felt paralyzed and Hazama cut them both down easily enough. It hurt,  _ burned…  _ Tears pooled in his eyes as he fell to his knees, staring up at him with his jaw locked in anger.

“... There is no need to worry. I’m not going to kill you.” Hazama was smiling down at him now. “No, I won’t let you off so easily. You need to suffer a bit more first.”

“Wh--”

“That’s right… I’m going to watch you scurry around like rats, in a maze with no exit.” He seemed almost giddy, giggles and laughter edging into his voice as he spoke. Soon enough he was laughing fully, right up until he disappeared, leaving Akira and Nobu to watch until everything went black.

Akira wasn’t sure how long he was unconscious for before a voice hit his ears. An otherworldly voice, one he was sure that under normal circumstances he wouldn’t be able to understand…

_ “... Ye who suffers as I do, Soul who cries out as I do, hear my voice _ .” His fingers twitched. He could hear it, he could hear the voice.  _ “I am Amon… A demon made corporeal, summoned by Hazama...” _

Summoned by Hazama…? Were demons being played with just as much as the students of the school, then? He wasn’t sure if this was just a dream or not, but it made Akira more pissed at that haughty Hazama than before. If he could just wrap his hands around his neck…

_ “Using me, and many other demons, he has conquered this tower and crowned himself Demon Emperor.”  _ The demon (or perhaps it was just the spirit of the demon) continued to feed information into Akira.  _ “Once he summoned me, I was bound to him and had no choice but to obey. Whatever he sought was immaterial.” _

Of course Hazama couldn’t do something like this on his own. He’d used other fucking demons to get here and act all high and mighty over everyone. Akira’s hand twitched again. He wanted to get up, find him, show him he wasn’t anything but a weakling…

_ “But in the end, he must have feared my power. He tore my soul from my body, and sealed it here. However, my strength is not gone completely. If I can reclaim my body, I will regain the strength I once had.” _ The demon spoke and things began to click for Akira.  _ “Then, perhaps I can fight and defeat him.” _

Amon wanted the same thing Akira wanted. If they could get him to his body…

_ “You and I share the same enemy. Allow me to use your body, and stand once more!” _ Akira’s hand twitched again, his teeth grit together. If that’s what it took, he would accept it. It didn’t matter the cost as long as Hazama paid.

Amon seemed to understand his acceptance and the demon soon enough entered his body. Bones snapped and reformed into a new shape, claws protruded from his hand and foot where they’d never been before, it felt as if something had fused onto his forehead… It hurt, but none of it compared to…

He let out a yell as he stood, hands on his head. “Inside my head… It burns…”

Nobu stumbled to is feet, fear clear on his face as the creature ran towards him. “Hee ho! You’re alright!”

Akira blinked a few times. He could understand Heeho now, could even work out his name… That was right. It was because…

“H-hey…” Nobu’s voice shook. “A-are you Akira…?”

“... My name is… Akira… And… Amon.” Akira shook his head as Heeho clung to his hand. “I guess this really isn’t a dream. I’m not… the same Akira I used to be.”

“Not the same Akira…?” Nobu swallowed, taking a step back. “What do you mean?!”

“... Nobu, were you watching? I’ve become one with that Amon demon, and now I look like this. It’s not just the look, though. Like… my mind, my soul, my essence or something… that too, you know? Like we’ve become a single entity.” He hoped his words weren’t confusing Nobu. It was a lot for him to handle, and he was the one who’d actually gone through it.

“A single entity…? So you’re kinda two in one…?” Nobu still didn’t seem to fully trust Akira and he couldn’t really blame him.

“Yeah, kind of. It’s like that everything Amon knew, I know now too. Let me give you the lowdown.” He waited for Nobu to nod and give him the go ahead before going for it. “The place we are now in the basement below a tower in the Expanse called the “Tower of Confinement.” We just happened to run into and get beaten by Hazama, and that’s how we got stuck here.”

“So we’re stuck…”

Akira nodded as Nobu’s shoulders deflated. “Do you know what he’s doing here, and how he got so powerful?”

“Not exactly, no.” Nobu shook his head. “How?”

“Well, the guy’s a genius, and found a way to link the human and demon worlds. He came here before the rest of us and gained all that power.” He huffed, just thinking about it. He didn’t even do it on his own and that still pissed him off (in more ways than one, now). “He conquered this tower with demons and is now calling himself the “Demon Emperor.” And… I’m not sure why, but he’s dragged the school into the Expanse as well… You following me so far?”

“Yeah, I’m following you. It’s just too bad that we don’t know why he dragged the school into here…” Nobu looked at the ground, kicking at it. “Now what?”

“The Demon Emperor has this whole tower encased in a magic field. Unless we beat him, we’re never going to be able to get out of here.” He sighed, rubbing the side of his neck. “Basically, we’ve got one choice: fight him, or rot here.”

“R-rotting sounds really bad…” Nobu swallowed hard.

“I don’t wanna rot, ho!” Heeho tightened his grip on Akira’s hand. “We-hee should beat him up!”

“He’s most likely sitting at the top of this tower lording over everything.” If he was just Akira, he’d roll his eyes at the thought of someone so pathetic acting like that. “We’ve got to get up there and defeat him.”

“I guess we can probably do that, but I’m not exactly much use right now.” Nobu frowned, looking at his hands. “I don’t have a weapon or anything.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Akira blinked a few times before tossing his hockey stick towards Nobu. “You can use that. I could probably rely on these claws until we find me a second weapon.”

“I guess that’s true. I just hope we can handle whatever monsters we run into.” He held the stick close. “Demons seem like they’ll bite our heads off at any moment-- er, not counting you two of course!”

“What did hee say, ho?” Heeho tilted his head to the side and Akira shook his head.

“He’s just a stupid human, ignore him.”

“Hey! I am not stupid…!” Nobu paused for a moment. “And you can understand him now?!”

“That kinda comes with my Amon part, yeah.”

“You guys aren’t gonna speak demon and plan anything weird without me knowing, are you?”

“Don’t tempt me.”

 

\--

 

“Tamaki!” Yumi wasted no time running up to her classmate when she saw her dragging herself out of Otsuki’s office. “There you are!”

“Yumi! You’re okay!” Tamaki threw her arms around the other girl, giving her a tight hug. “I couldn’t find you, so I ended up going with Reiko Akanezawa, and…”

“The Princess, huh…?” Yumi made a face. “Surprised she’s doing anything about this…”

“Aw, come on, Yumi!” Tamaki shook her head. “Reiko seems to have some idea of what’s going on and how to stop it, there’s no reason to talk about her like that.”

“A-ah, is that so…? Sorry then.” Now she just felt plain embarrassed for saying anything. “She really has an idea of what to do?” She almost wished she was with Reiko instead of Charlie, if that was the case…

“Yeah, we even got that Ring of Humility Hazama was talking about!” She grinned, holding up the ring for Yumi to see.

Yumi whistled. “I didn’t think you were the one to find it… Mind if me and this guy come with you, then?” She gestured towards Charlie. “We’re working to figure this out, and we’ll be kinda stuck if we can’t use that.”

“Sure!” Tamaki turned to look at Reiko, who was peeking from behind her. “That’s okay, right, Reiko?”

She gave a small nod. “...I guess.”

Ugh, Reiko sure was something… If Yumi didn’t wanna save everyone, she might just walk off and try and find another way through…

“Come on!” Tamaki started off for the stairs, and the others girls and Charlie were left to follow after. “The emergency exit will hopefully be open now…”

Thankfully, Tamaki was right. The strange, purple abyss worried Yumi, but now wasn’t the time to get cold feet. Closing her eyes, she followed Tamaki and Reiko forward, dragging Charlie along.

When she opened her eyes, they were in a temple-looking place. That hadn’t been what she was expecting… Seriously, what the hell was this?

“It’s like a temple.” Reiko let out a sigh. “...It’s just like Hazama to build something like this…”

“So I guess this must be the real Expanse then…” She looked around, worried more of those demons would come out of nowhere and attack.

“Time for the main event!” Charlie spoke up for the first time since Yumi had run into Tamaki. “If you wanna turn back, now’s the time!”

“No way we’re turning back!” Yumi shook her head. “I’m still planning on saving everyone.”

Tamaki hummed, having tried every door. “Anything that doesn’t lead to the school is locked… Or is the center room. Maybe we use the ring there?”

“That’d make enough sense to me.”

“Then… You guys wait here, I’ll be right back.” Tamaki stepped into the center room and the other three stood there in silence. This was all quite a bit to take in… Hopefully Tamaki was onto something or they’d be hitting another wall.

“Oh…” Reiko turned at the sound of a lock clicking open. “I think Uchida was right.”

“Good, that means we can finally move on!” Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. “The sooner I can get outta here, the better!”

Yumi sent him a glare. “We can get out of here with everyone else!”

Tamaki stepped out, a smile on her face. “Any change?”

“Mmhmm, this door seems to be open.” Reiko pointed. “Let’s go.”

Tamaki stepped forward, placing a hand on the door. “The Domain of Pride…” She turned back to Yumi and Charlie. “Well, we’ll go on ahead first. See you around, Yumi, Kuroi.”

“See you, be safe Tamaki.”

With that, they were gone.


End file.
